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Alexandra Raisman
| died= | hometown= Needham, Massachusetts | knownfor= Olympic gold medal gymnast | season= Dancing with the Stars 16 | partner= Mark Ballas | place= 4 | highestscore= 30 (Rumba & Freestyle) | lowestscore= 21 (Cha-Cha-Cha) | averagescore= 26.7 }} ' Alexandra Rose "Aly" Raisman' is a celebrity from Season 16 of Dancing with the Stars. Personal Life Raisman was born 25 May 1994, in Needham, Massachusetts to Lynn (née Faber) and Rick Raisman. Raisman is Jewish. Her mother is a former high school gymnast. She has three younger siblings, Brett, Chloe, and Madison. Raisman began gymnastics at a very young age. She said, "I got involved when I was two years old when my mom put me in Mommy and Me classes, I always had a lot of energy so it was the perfect fit! I have always loved it ever since!" Raisman trained at Exxcel Gymnastics and Climbing through Level 8, when she moved to Brestyan's American Gymnastics Club under coaches Mihai and Silvia Brestyan. She trained alongside Alicia Sacramone, of whom Raisman said, "She's kind of like my older sister. I can ask her about anything because I know that she's been through it all. She knows what it takes to get there, so watching her work so hard in the gym everyday is really helpful. I love watching her because she's such a beautiful gymnast, she's so powerful, and has the whole package." Raisman graduated from Needham High School in 2012. Raisman attended high school daily, along with training until the end of her junior year. She completed her senior year via online classes, allowing her to focus on training for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Raisman was committed to attend the University of Florida for gymnastics, but instead pursued a professional career. Junior Career 2009 In April, Raisman competed at the American Classic in San Diego, California. She placed tenth in the all around with a score of 53.383. In July, Raisman competed at the CoverGirl Classic in Des Moines, Iowa. She placed twelfth in the all around with a score of 54.050. In August, Raisman competed at the Visa Championships in Dallas, Texas. She placed third in the all around with a two-day combined score of 112.600. In event finals, she placed fifth on vault scoring 29.650 and second on balance beam scoring 28.950. In November, Raisman competed at the Junior Pan American Championships in Aracaju, Brazil. She contributed scores of 14.950 on vault and 14.050 on floor toward the American team's first-place finish. Individually, she placed third in the all around competition with a score of 56.200. In event finals, she placed first on vault scoring 14.700 and first on floor scoring 14.400. Senior Career 2010 In March, Raisman competed at the American Cup in Worcester, Massachusetts. She placed second in the all around competition with a score of 58.900. She said, "It was great to go out there and compete in front of my friends and family. Until I saw all the signs, I didn’t know there were that many girls from my gym here, so it made it even more special to have all that support." Later in March, Raisman competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy. She won the all around with a score of 57.650. In May, Raisman competed at the Pacific Rim Championships in Melbourne, Australia. She helped the American team win first place and individually she placed second in the all around competition with a score of 58.250. In event finals, she placed seventh on uneven bars scoring 13.025, second on balance beam scoring 14.675, and second on floor scoring 14.625. In July, Raisman competed at the CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois. She placed fifth in the all around competition with a score of 55.700. In August, Raisman competed at the Visa Championships in Hartford, Connecticut. She placed third in the all around competition with a two-day combined score of 115.650. In event finals, she placed third on balance beam scoring 28.300 and third on floor scoring 29.500. In October, Raisman competed at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She contributed scores of 15.066 on vault, 14.333 on balance beam, and 14.500 on floor towards the American team's second place. Individually, she placed thirteenth in the all around final with a score of 55.699. Raisman said, "It felt really good (to compete in the finals). It's an honor to be in this competition. I am disappointed about what happened on bars, but I am happy that I did the other three events well to finish strong." She placed fourth in the floor final with a score of 14.716. "I am really excited about coming in fourth because I was in eighth place in the prelims and I jumped up a couple of places," said Raisman. "It's a little frustrating because I missed a medal by just .050, but I am also excited about it. I definitely learned a lot, and I am going to go home and work on my execution." Raisman continued training throughout the winter. She said, "Training has been going really good. I feel really confident. I'm just trying to perfect all the things I'm working on and learn a few new skills. The main area I'm focusing on is getting the 2 1/2 (Amanar) on vault, since it will bump my start value up seven tenths." 2011 In March, Raisman competed at the American Cup in Jacksonville, Florida. She placed third in the all around with a score of 58.565. Raisman said, "I’m really happy with my performance today, especially floor because that is the highest score I’ve received on that event." Later in March, Raisman competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy. She placed third in the all around competition with a score of 57.400. In July, Raisman competed at the CoverGirl Classic in Chicago, Illinois. She won the all around competition with a score of 57.250. In August, Raisman competed at the Visa Championships in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She placed third in the all around with a two-day combined score of 114.600. In event finals, she placed sixth on balance beam scoring 27.900 and third on floor scoring 29.150. Raisman said, "I’m really happy that I did well. I’m especially happy that I was able to hit my uneven bars routine two days in a row." In October, Raisman competed at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. Raisman took Sacramone's place as team captain after Sacramone was injured before the competition. "I'm the oldest of all my siblings, so it just kind of came naturally," said Raisman. "I didn't really think of it as being the team leader, I just wanted to help the others out." She contributed scores of 14.950 on vault, 14.866 on balance beam, and 14.666 on floor towards the American team's first-place finish. Individually she placed fourth in the all around competition with a score of 57.558. In event finals, she placed fourth on balance beam scoring 15.066 and third on floor scoring 15.000. Raisman said, "Winning the team gold was the most amazing feeling ever. It’s a dream come true, saying that I’m a World Champion. It doesn’t even seem real saying it right now, but it’s just amazing because we were all so prepared and we worked so hard." In November, Raisman decided to become a professional athlete, giving up her NCAA eligibility. She signed with the Octagon Sports management firm. Raisman said, "It was a hard decision but I’ve always thought about it in the back of my mind. I just wanted to try it and have no regrets because I thought if I didn’t try to go pro I’d always wonder. I know all the girls at Florida and they love it there so much. But not a lot of people get the opportunity to be a professional gymnast and be able to have sponsors. I love fashion, so it’s cool to be sponsored by Ralph Lauren." London Olympics At the end of July, Raisman competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She helped the American team (nicknamed the "Fierce Five") qualify in first place to the team final, and also qualified in second place for the individual all-around with a score of 60.391. Raisman also qualified fifth to the beam final with a score of 15.100 and first to the floor final with a score of 15.325. After qualifications, Raisman said: "Before we marched out we talked about how we want to have fun here and really enjoy it. We talked about going out and hitting all of our routines just like at 2011 World Championships and that's what we did. I'm really proud of our team." In the team final, Raisman contributed scores of 14.933 on balance beam and 15.300 on floor toward the American team's first-place finish. She said, "We knew we could do it. We just had to pull out all the stops." In the individual all-around, Raisman finished in fourth place with an overall score of 59.566, which matched the third place score by Russian Aliya Mustafina, but the tie-breaking rules for all-around sum the three highest apparatus scores; with Mustafina scoring 45.933 and Raisman 45.366, Mustafina was awarded the bronze medal. Raisman said, "I'm really happy for Gabby. She's been working really hard so I'm really excited for her, but it's definitely really frustrating because we (Mustafina) tied for third place. I was so close. But being fourth in the world is definitely something to be proud of." In the balance beam final, Raisman won the bronze medal. She initially scored 14.966, but after U.S. team coordinator Márta Károlyi and husband Béla Károlyi had requested a video review, the judges re-evaluated and granted an extra tenth towards her routine's difficulty. As a result, Raisman scored 15.066, matching Romanian Cătălina Ponor for third place, and in the tie-breaking procedure, which prioritizes execution score, Raisman scored higher. She said, "I felt really good on my beam routine today and I'm happy that it was good enough for bronze. This day has been so crazy and really special. I am really excited to celebrate with my family and friends tonight." In the floor final, Raisman won the gold medal with a score of 15.600. She said, "It feels amazing. I have been working so hard, so to have it come true is so exciting. I have always dreamed of being the Olympic Champion on floor, so I was really happy to be able to do the floor routine of my life here today." She is the first American woman to win the gold medal on floor. Raisman performed her floor exercise to the tune Hava Nagila and said she dedicated her floor exercise program to the eleven Israeli Olympians who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich games in Germany. Post Olympics In September, Raisman was injured during the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions in Ontario, California. She fell while performing a Maloney on the uneven bars and landed off the mats bruising her knees. This occurred shortly after teammate McKayla Maroney injured herself performing a flyaway dismount on the same bars. Prior to the games, Raisman had endorsements with Ralph Lauren, GK Elite Sportswear,needed and others. After the games she picked up deals with American Girl, Poland Spring and Pandora Jewelry. She planned to return to competition during the 2014 season, but missed out due to lack of preparation. She instead returned to the October National Team training camp, her first since the London Olympics. After the November National Team training camp the following month, Raisman was named again to the U.S. national team, along with Olympic teammate Gabby Douglas. 2015 Raisman made her comeback to competition at the City of Jesolo Trophy in late March. There, she received the gold medal with the U.S. team and won individual bronze medals in the all-around (behind Simone Biles and Bailie Key), with a score of 59.100, and the floor exercise (behind Biles and Erika Fasana of Italy), with a score of 14.850. In June, she was named to the board of Boston's bid committee for the 2024 Summer Olympics. She later posed nude for ESPN the Magazine's Body Issue. On 25 July, Raisman competed at the U.S. Classic. She performed her Amanar vault for the first time since 2012 and scored a 15.400. She placed ninth on bars (14.200), second on beam (15.100), and fifth on floor, where she fell during a new, difficult routine and scored 14.350. She finished fifth in the all-around with a total score of 59.050. On 13 and 15 August, Raisman competed at the National Championships in Indianapolis and finished third, behind Biles and Maggie Nichols, with a two-night total of 118.550. She fell on balance beam on Night 1, scoring a low 13.750, but went on to post the highest floor exercise score of the night, 15.550. With a two-night total of 31.050 on floor, she beat Biles, the reigning world champion on the event, by 0.300. After the competition, Raisman was named to the national team for the first time since 2012 and received an invitation to the World Championships selection camp in September. 2016 Raisman started the year at the 2016 City of Jesolo Trophy in March, and finished sixth in the all-around. She finished first on floor with a score of 15.050, beating teammate Ragan Smith by half a point. She also finished third on beam with a score of 14.750, behind Smith and Laurie Hernandez. At the Pacific Rim Championships, Raisman won gold with the U.S. team, contributing a 15.200 on vault, 14.800 on beam, and 15.600 on floor. She then won the silver medal in the all-around, behind Biles, with a score of 59.900. She won a second silver medal on the balance beam (15.100), behind Smith, and gold on floor (15.100). Raisman then won the U.S. Classic in Hartford with a score of 59.250. She placed first on vault (15.700) and floor (15.500); third on beam (15.000), behind Biles and Alyssa Baumann; and scored a 13.050 on uneven bars. On 24 and 26 June, Raisman competed at the National Championships. She scored 60.450 on the first night and 60.650 on the second, finishing in second place behind Biles. At the Olympic Trials in July, she scored a total of 119.750 over two nights, putting her in third place behind Biles and Hernandez. After the Trials, she was named to the 2016 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team alongside Biles, Douglas, Hernandez, and Madison Kocian. Raisman and Douglas are the first U.S. women since 2000 to make back-to-back Olympic gymnastics teams. Rio de Janeiro Olympics During the first night of Women's Gymnastics competition in the 2016 Summer Olympics, Raisman and the U.S. women qualified into the team final in first place with a score of 185.238, almost 10 points ahead of the second place qualifying team. Individually, Raisman qualified second to individual all-around with a score of 60.607 behind teammate Simone Biles, and qualified second to the floor exercise final, where she is the defending Olympic Champion from the London Games, with a score of 15.275, again behind teammate Simone Biles. On the second day of competition, Raisman competed on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise in the team final to help secure the gold medal for the U.S. Team and defend the title she earned with the Fierce Five in 2012. At the end of the competition, Raisman and her teammates debuted the team name of the 2016 U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team: "The Final Five," in recognition that this is the last Olympic Team Marta Karolyi would name and because this is the last Olympics where the women would have teams of five competing in team finals, as it was announced recently that in Tokyo 2020, they would compete as teams of four. Raisman finished second in the 2016 Olympic all-around with a score of 60.098, earning her a silver medal. Teammate Simone Biles placed first and Russia's Aliya Mustafina placed third. Dancing with the Stars 16 She was partnered with Mark Ballas. They placed 4th. Scores Trivia * In the all-star season, Aly and the 2012 US Women's Olympic gymnastics team performed a supersized freestyle with Shawn Johnson. * Aly is the second Olympic gymnast to appear on Dancing With the Stars. ** Shawn Johnson won Season 8 and was the runner-up on the all-star season. ** Nastia Liukin made it to the semifinals in Season 20 and came in fourth. ** Her Olympic teammate Laurie Hernandez won Season 23. ** Her Olympic teammate Simone Biles made it to the semifinals in Season 24 and came in fourth. Gallery Alexandria and Mark S16.jpg Aly_dwts.jpg Alexandra and Mark S16 Week 3 Viennese Waltz.jpg Category:Contestants Category:Females Category:Season 16 contestants Category:Athletes Category:Olympians Category:Former Olympic gymnasts